Two weeks top notch! This is the time it took Climax Foods, a start-up based in Berkeley, California, to recreate to perfection, visually as well as dietary and taste, a “Mini Babybel” from our region. “ By using only hemp, pumpkin and white beans, to achieve the same level of protein as the initial product ,” assures its founder, Oliver Zahn. This is not the only creation of this trained astrophysicist, who seems to particularly enjoy noble mold: cubes of feta, balls of mozzarella or pretty slices of blue cheese, his laboratory has nothing to envy at the stalls of real cheesemakers… Its products all flow and smell, moreover, to be mistaken. And yet: in these fake cheeses with an indistinguishable taste, like in the Mini Babybel made in collaboration with Bel, there is no trace of milk, whether from cow, sheep or goat. But only plant ingredients.
We might as well make it clear from the outset: this culinary trompe-l’oeil would not have been possible without the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The only one capable of combining so quickly, and without error, the thousands of references of plants and legumes which constitute the Climax Foods database.
The rest under this advertisement
The rest under this advertisement
AI helps reduce the time spent on research and development
“ Thanks to the computing power of this AI, the time allocated to R&D is reduced, and we are guaranteed to have the best possible results ,” summarizes Nicolas Cabanes, project director at digital transformation specialist EY Fabernovel. We can no longer count the start-ups in the sector which, like Climax Foods, more or less openly assume to put AI in their back kitchen. This is also a major ace up the sleeve of this industry, faced with the need to feed a planet whose population is expected to increase from 7.9 to 9 billion inhabitants by 2050. “ Emerging nations will develop and want to increase their consumption of animal proteins. In our countries, we will have to compensate for this demand with plants ,” warns Cécile Béliot, general director of Bel.
This is not the only issue: food based on animal breeding, as we know it today, has a significant impact on the environment. This means that a third of greenhouse gas emissions are linked to human food needs. According to calculations by the Bel group, replacing even 10% of our animal feed portions with plants would save the equivalent of Japan’s carbon emissions for one year, and forty years of food consumption. water in a city like London.
The rest under this advertisement
Casein, a protein present in dairy products, is reproduced using AI
It is therefore not surprising that these young companies, launched to attack these promising markets, have aroused the interest of heavyweights in the agri-food industry, such as Bel, but also Nestlé, Danone, or Kraft Heinz. These multinationals most often form exclusive partnerships with these structures, for a share of 5 to 10% in their capital. “ These start-ups have the intelligence and the R&D capacity, while the manufacturers provide the funds, the industrial tools necessary for design tests, their logistics and their strike force ,” describes Nicolas Cabanes.
Danone has, according to our information, entered into a partnership with the Israeli Wilk (breast milk substitute), to the tune of 4 million euros. “ The budget allocated to this various research increases from year to year, and using AI to exploit the vast pool of data has become a necessity ,” recognizes Isabelle Esser, director of R&D, quality and food safety at of the Danone group.
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The rest under this advertisement
This AI revolution is all the more strongly anticipated since the first generation of plant-based alternatives, whether based on soy, almond or pea, did not convince. This is how, at the end of September, unit sales of these foods contracted by 0.4% year-on-year, according to the Circana firm, particularly for “dairy products” (-2%) and meals. cooked (- 1%).
Several brands have even decided to repackage their products, faced with a lack of consumer support. This is the case of A Bicyclette plant-based desserts, launched by the Eurial cooperative in 2017, which have no longer been on the shelves since the end of September. “ The substitute plant market was very dynamic until two years ago, but is now plateauing in number of buyers and even declining in volume ,” confirms Gaëlle Le Floch, marketing director of Kantar Worldpanel. If the high price of these preparations has a lot to do with the disaffection of households, it would also be their tasteless taste, not to say bad, which would scare them away. Save the planet, why not, but out of the question of eating products without desirability or taste pleasure: the French remain too attached to their gastronomy.
The rest under this advertisement
More appetizing “novel foods”
But I promise, these “novel foods” (generic name, in English, of these plant foods) now created by AI will not repeat the same mistakes. The French start-up Umiami, for example, strives to make its “chicken” fillets as tempting as possible. “ We work with six to seven ingredients : water and salt, but also vegetable proteins, natural flavors and citric acid. Thanks to a specific mixture and temperature, our process, unique in the world, allows us to recreate the same fibrousness and texture specific to the original product. And AI helps us speed up the whole process ,” assures its co-founder Martin Habfast.
On arrival, its product therefore contains a protein ratio identical to its animal counterpart, i.e. 22 to 24%. Same objective at La Vie Foods, with “lardons” made from a mixture of soy proteins, sunflower oil, salt, natural flavors, blackcurrant skin and vinegar salt. “ Our challenge was to recreate the same sensation of fat and toast ,” explains Nicolas Schweitzer, CEO of the French SME, created in 2019. To achieve this, the young company even had the famous ChatGPT robot work on patents entered into. in the public domain. Gourmets assure that these “lardons” really taste like pork, to be mistaken. And although this product contains as much protein as animal bacon, it is however less fatty and without any nitrite. Result: its Nutri-Score is C, while that of bacon from traditional competitor Herta is classified E.
The rest under this advertisement
The rest under this advertisement
AI makes it possible to reproduce casein, a protein present in dairy products
It’s not just in assembling plant-based ingredients that AI excels. Its algorithms also make it possible to considerably refine artificial fermentation processes, aiming to reproduce the fermentation naturally occurring in the manufacture of bread, beer or cheese. With this process, this time it is no longer a question of imitating the animal, but of recreating it. Example with the production of casein, this protein present in 80% of dairy products, and which gives its stringiness to mozzarella, its smoothness to an ice cream or its flow to a Camembert. “ By using fungi, yeasts or bacteria, we are able to reproduce such proteins, which until now had only come from animals ,” explains Romain Chayot, co-founder of Standing Ovation.
With these techniques, there is no longer any need to “extract this protein from the cow ,” concludes Philippine Adam, analyst at Bryan Garnier & Co. Another variant of these laboratory experiments doped with AI: cell culture, which allows this time to grow meat… in a test tube. For this process, in which the Israeli Aleph Farms, the American Upside Foods or Good Meat, as well as the French Vitalmeat excel, it is enough to take part of the animal, like a muscle, to mix it in a cocktail that is not very stewing with nutrients, enzymes, sugar, carbon and ammonia… Then abracadabra: the cell grows and multiplies, to become a whole piece of meat.
The rest under this advertisement
In Europe, marketing authorization can take several years
Enticed? Please note, however, that you will have to wait to taste most of these AI-designed ingredients, unless you go to Singapore, Israel or the United States, where more advanced health regulations already authorize their marketing (in France, only the “bacon” from La Vie Foods and the “chicken” fillets from Umiami, with long-approved plant ingredients, are on the shelves).
Europe indeed considers foods resulting from precision fermentation, like cell culture, as “new” and requiring approval. “ Any ingredient used and/or consumed after the entry into force of the first regulation relating to novel foods, i.e. on May 15, 1997, is classified in this category, and must as such be the subject of a request authorization ,” confirms Katia Merten-Lentz, lawyer specializing in food innovation and founder of the firm Food Law Science & Partners. Also a way for Europe to protect its market. “ Unlike countries like Israel or Singapore which seek, by relaxing regulations on these foods, to open up opportunities and boost their local economy ,” explains sector specialist Xavier Terlet.
The rest under this advertisement
The rest under this advertisement
Cellular meat, awaiting European approval
Numerous files are also in the process of being approved, notably that of the French cellular meat Vitalmeat. Even if the cogs of administration are not known for being fast! “In general, it takes two to three years to prepare, submit and obtain this marketing authorization,” explains Katia Merten-Lentz. Other experts, less optimistic, rather expect a period of five to six years. Bel and Climax Foods plan to attack the Old Continent with their copy of Mini Babybel from 2024, while Standing Ovation hopes to obtain a European agreement around 2026 for its casein from precision fermentation.
If our continent remains attached to its agricultural roots, it will in any case have no choice but to give the green light. “Europe is advocating a reduction in meat consumption, in the face of the climate emergency, the scarcity of resources and the increase in population. It can therefore only authorize these new ingredients which provide real solutions,” adds the lawyer. Let us hope that in the meantime our manufacturers will have removed one last brake: that of the price of this AI applied to our plates, which sees the packet of La Vie Foods “lardons” being charged 4 euros, twice as much as the classic Herta. “When we see that the price of meat has suffered inflation of around 30% in recent years, the differential with these alternatives should quickly diminish,” assures Nicolas Cabanes. Industrial costs, moreover, should adjust downwards. “Within ten years, we can imagine that the price of a kilo of cellular meat will be close to that of organic meat (i.e. around 60 euros, Editor’s note),” argues Philippine Adam, at Bryan Garnier & Co A long way since the very first steak came out of a test tube, in the 1990s, and which cost more than 235,000 euros each…
The rest under this advertisement
Research undertaken on all continents
5 start-ups that rely on AI
Climax Foods
The French cheese group Bel has joined forces with this Californian start-up to create, from plants and legumes, alternatives that look exactly like dairy products. The first products (Mini Babybel) will arrive on the market in 2024.
The rest under this advertisement
The rest under this advertisement
La Vie Foods
This French SME has succeeded, by using the ChatGPT robot on various public patents, to create plant-based products imitating bacon, right down to the fatty and grilled sensation. These alternatives, containing as much protein as pork, are sold in 13 countries, including France.
Umiami
By mixing plant ingredients at a specific temperature, the French start-up invented “chicken” fillets with the same texture and fibrousness as animal products. Artificial intelligence has made it possible to accelerate the development of this manufacturing process.
The rest under this advertisement
NotCo
The Chilean company NotCo has created an artificial intelligence program, called Giuseppe, which endlessly combines ingredients such as pineapple, coconut or spicy cabbage, so as to reproduce the flavors and textures of local products. animal origin (milk, beef and chicken steak).
Aleph Farms
The rest under this advertisement
The rest under this advertisement
Founded in 2017, the Israeli start-up is expected to very soon market its Aleph Cuts beef strips, all from the Lucy cow, which died in 2022. These products were made from its fertilized cells, which were cultivated in such a way as to prosper.
French meat and milk lobbies respond
AI breakthroughs are obviously viewed with caution by breeding professionals. “ Cultured muscle cells cannot under any circumstances be called meat, since they do not come from a raw product, resulting from a natural process ,” warns Jean-François Guihard, president of Interbev, the organization interprofessional livestock association. Regulations could become tougher, with a draft decree brought by the Ministry of Agriculture to Europe, aiming to prohibit any vocabulary evoking meat to designate vegetable preparations.
The rest under this advertisement
On the milk side, a European regulation has already defined this product as an integral product of total and uninterrupted milking of a dairy female. Impossible, therefore, to talk about cheese, cream, yogurt or vegetable butter. “ We want to protect the consumer so that there is no confusion in their minds: plant and dairy products are different and they must know that ,” explains Caroline Le Poultier, general director of Cniel (National Interprofessional Center for dairy economy). Breeders also pay attention to the safety of these products, particularly those grown in test tubes. According to Interbev, the arrival of health dangers cannot be ruled out.
Receive our latest news Every morning, the essential CAPITAL news .
Two weeks top notch! This is the time it took Climax Foods, a start-up based in Berkeley, California, to recreate to perfection, visually as well as dietary and taste, a “Mini Babybel” from our region. “ By using only hemp, pumpkin and white beans, to achieve the same level of protein as the initial product ,” assures its founder, Oliver Zahn. This is not the only creation of this trained astrophysicist, who seems to particularly enjoy noble mold: cubes of feta, balls of mozzarella or pretty slices of blue cheese, his laboratory has nothing to envy at the stalls of real cheesemakers… Its products all flow and smell, moreover, to be mistaken. And yet: in these fake cheeses with an indistinguishable taste, like in the Mini Babybel made in collaboration with Bel, there is no trace of milk, whether from cow, sheep or goat. But only plant ingredients.
We might as well make it clear from the outset: this culinary trompe-l’oeil would not have been possible without the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The only one capable of combining so quickly, and without error, the thousands of references of plants and legumes which constitute the Climax Foods database.
The rest under this advertisement
The rest under this advertisement
AI helps reduce the time spent on research and development
“ Thanks to the computing power of this AI, the time allocated to R&D is reduced, and we are guaranteed to have the best possible results ,” summarizes Nicolas Cabanes, project director at digital transformation specialist EY Fabernovel. We can no longer count the start-ups in the sector which, like Climax Foods, more or less openly assume to put AI in their back kitchen. This is also a major ace up the sleeve of this industry, faced with the need to feed a planet whose population is expected to increase from 7.9 to 9 billion inhabitants by 2050. “ Emerging nations will develop and want to increase their consumption of animal proteins. In our countries, we will have to compensate for this demand with plants ,” warns Cécile Béliot, general director of Bel.
This is not the only issue: food based on animal breeding, as we know it today, has a significant impact on the environment. This means that a third of greenhouse gas emissions are linked to human food needs. According to calculations by the Bel group, replacing even 10% of our animal feed portions with plants would save the equivalent of Japan’s carbon emissions for one year, and forty years of food consumption. water in a city like London.
The rest under this advertisement
Casein, a protein present in dairy products, is reproduced using AI
It is therefore not surprising that these young companies, launched to attack these promising markets, have aroused the interest of heavyweights in the agri-food industry, such as Bel, but also Nestlé, Danone, or Kraft Heinz. These multinationals most often form exclusive partnerships with these structures, for a share of 5 to 10% in their capital. “ These start-ups have the intelligence and the R&D capacity, while the manufacturers provide the funds, the industrial tools necessary for design tests, their logistics and their strike force ,” describes Nicolas Cabanes.
Danone has, according to our information, entered into a partnership with the Israeli Wilk (breast milk substitute), to the tune of 4 million euros. “ The budget allocated to this various research increases from year to year, and using AI to exploit the vast pool of data has become a necessity ,” recognizes Isabelle Esser, director of R&D, quality and food safety at of the Danone group.
The rest under this advertisement
The rest under this advertisement
This AI revolution is all the more strongly anticipated since the first generation of plant-based alternatives, whether based on soy, almond or pea, did not convince. This is how, at the end of September, unit sales of these foods contracted by 0.4% year-on-year, according to the Circana firm, particularly for “dairy products” (-2%) and meals. cooked (- 1%).
Several brands have even decided to repackage their products, faced with a lack of consumer support. This is the case of A Bicyclette plant-based desserts, launched by the Eurial cooperative in 2017, which have no longer been on the shelves since the end of September. “ The substitute plant market was very dynamic until two years ago, but is now plateauing in number of buyers and even declining in volume ,” confirms Gaëlle Le Floch, marketing director of Kantar Worldpanel. If the high price of these preparations has a lot to do with the disaffection of households, it would also be their tasteless taste, not to say bad, which would scare them away. Save the planet, why not, but out of the question of eating products without desirability or taste pleasure: the French remain too attached to their gastronomy.
The rest under this advertisement
More appetizing “novel foods”
But I promise, these “novel foods” (generic name, in English, of these plant foods) now created by AI will not repeat the same mistakes. The French start-up Umiami, for example, strives to make its “chicken” fillets as tempting as possible. “ We work with six to seven ingredients : water and salt, but also vegetable proteins, natural flavors and citric acid. Thanks to a specific mixture and temperature, our process, unique in the world, allows us to recreate the same fibrousness and texture specific to the original product. And AI helps us speed up the whole process ,” assures its co-founder Martin Habfast.
On arrival, its product therefore contains a protein ratio identical to its animal counterpart, i.e. 22 to 24%. Same objective at La Vie Foods, with “lardons” made from a mixture of soy proteins, sunflower oil, salt, natural flavors, blackcurrant skin and vinegar salt. “ Our challenge was to recreate the same sensation of fat and toast ,” explains Nicolas Schweitzer, CEO of the French SME, created in 2019. To achieve this, the young company even had the famous ChatGPT robot work on patents entered into. in the public domain. Gourmets assure that these “lardons” really taste like pork, to be mistaken. And although this product contains as much protein as animal bacon, it is however less fatty and without any nitrite. Result: its Nutri-Score is C, while that of bacon from traditional competitor Herta is classified E.
The rest under this advertisement
The rest under this advertisement
AI makes it possible to reproduce casein, a protein present in dairy products
It’s not just in assembling plant-based ingredients that AI excels. Its algorithms also make it possible to considerably refine artificial fermentation processes, aiming to reproduce the fermentation naturally occurring in the manufacture of bread, beer or cheese. With this process, this time it is no longer a question of imitating the animal, but of recreating it. Example with the production of casein, this protein present in 80% of dairy products, and which gives its stringiness to mozzarella, its smoothness to an ice cream or its flow to a Camembert. “ By using fungi, yeasts or bacteria, we are able to reproduce such proteins, which until now had only come from animals ,” explains Romain Chayot, co-founder of Standing Ovation.
With these techniques, there is no longer any need to “extract this protein from the cow ,” concludes Philippine Adam, analyst at Bryan Garnier & Co. Another variant of these laboratory experiments doped with AI: cell culture, which allows this time to grow meat… in a test tube. For this process, in which the Israeli Aleph Farms, the American Upside Foods or Good Meat, as well as the French Vitalmeat excel, it is enough to take part of the animal, like a muscle, to mix it in a cocktail that is not very stewing with nutrients, enzymes, sugar, carbon and ammonia… Then abracadabra: the cell grows and multiplies, to become a whole piece of meat.
The rest under this advertisement
In Europe, marketing authorization can take several years
Enticed? Please note, however, that you will have to wait to taste most of these AI-designed ingredients, unless you go to Singapore, Israel or the United States, where more advanced health regulations already authorize their marketing (in France, only the “bacon” from La Vie Foods and the “chicken” fillets from Umiami, with long-approved plant ingredients, are on the shelves).
Europe indeed considers foods resulting from precision fermentation, like cell culture, as “new” and requiring approval. “ Any ingredient used and/or consumed after the entry into force of the first regulation relating to novel foods, i.e. on May 15, 1997, is classified in this category, and must as such be the subject of a request authorization ,” confirms Katia Merten-Lentz, lawyer specializing in food innovation and founder of the firm Food Law Science & Partners. Also a way for Europe to protect its market. “ Unlike countries like Israel or Singapore which seek, by relaxing regulations on these foods, to open up opportunities and boost their local economy ,” explains sector specialist Xavier Terlet.
The rest under this advertisement
The rest under this advertisement
Cellular meat, awaiting European approval
Numerous files are also in the process of being approved, notably that of the French cellular meat Vitalmeat. Even if the cogs of administration are not known for being fast! “In general, it takes two to three years to prepare, submit and obtain this marketing authorization,” explains Katia Merten-Lentz. Other experts, less optimistic, rather expect a period of five to six years. Bel and Climax Foods plan to attack the Old Continent with their copy of Mini Babybel from 2024, while Standing Ovation hopes to obtain a European agreement around 2026 for its casein from precision fermentation.
If our continent remains attached to its agricultural roots, it will in any case have no choice but to give the green light. “Europe is advocating a reduction in meat consumption, in the face of the climate emergency, the scarcity of resources and the increase in population. It can therefore only authorize these new ingredients which provide real solutions,” adds the lawyer. Let us hope that in the meantime our manufacturers will have removed one last brake: that of the price of this AI applied to our plates, which sees the packet of La Vie Foods “lardons” being charged 4 euros, twice as much as the classic Herta. “When we see that the price of meat has suffered inflation of around 30% in recent years, the differential with these alternatives should quickly diminish,” assures Nicolas Cabanes. Industrial costs, moreover, should adjust downwards. “Within ten years, we can imagine that the price of a kilo of cellular meat will be close to that of organic meat (i.e. around 60 euros, Editor’s note),” argues Philippine Adam, at Bryan Garnier & Co A long way since the very first steak came out of a test tube, in the 1990s, and which cost more than 235,000 euros each…
The rest under this advertisement
Research undertaken on all continents
5 start-ups that rely on AI
Climax Foods
The French cheese group Bel has joined forces with this Californian start-up to create, from plants and legumes, alternatives that look exactly like dairy products. The first products (Mini Babybel) will arrive on the market in 2024.
The rest under this advertisement
The rest under this advertisement
La Vie Foods
This French SME has succeeded, by using the ChatGPT robot on various public patents, to create plant-based products imitating bacon, right down to the fatty and grilled sensation. These alternatives, containing as much protein as pork, are sold in 13 countries, including France.
Umiami
By mixing plant ingredients at a specific temperature, the French start-up invented “chicken” fillets with the same texture and fibrousness as animal products. Artificial intelligence has made it possible to accelerate the development of this manufacturing process.
The rest under this advertisement
NotCo
The Chilean company NotCo has created an artificial intelligence program, called Giuseppe, which endlessly combines ingredients such as pineapple, coconut or spicy cabbage, so as to reproduce the flavors and textures of local products. animal origin (milk, beef and chicken steak).
Aleph Farms
The rest under this advertisement
The rest under this advertisement
Founded in 2017, the Israeli start-up is expected to very soon market its Aleph Cuts beef strips, all from the Lucy cow, which died in 2022. These products were made from its fertilized cells, which were cultivated in such a way as to prosper.
French meat and milk lobbies respond
AI breakthroughs are obviously viewed with caution by breeding professionals. “ Cultured muscle cells cannot under any circumstances be called meat, since they do not come from a raw product, resulting from a natural process ,” warns Jean-François Guihard, president of Interbev, the organization interprofessional livestock association. Regulations could become tougher, with a draft decree brought by the Ministry of Agriculture to Europe, aiming to prohibit any vocabulary evoking meat to designate vegetable preparations.
The rest under this advertisement
On the milk side, a European regulation has already defined this product as an integral product of total and uninterrupted milking of a dairy female. Impossible, therefore, to talk about cheese, cream, yogurt or vegetable butter. “ We want to protect the consumer so that there is no confusion in their minds: plant and dairy products are different and they must know that ,” explains Caroline Le Poultier, general director of Cniel (National Interprofessional Center for dairy economy). Breeders also pay attention to the safety of these products, particularly those grown in test tubes. According to Interbev, the arrival of health dangers cannot be ruled out.
Receive our latest news Every morning, the essential CAPITAL news .